Author: rajeevsurana

Marine food is a staple diet for a sizeable chunk of non-vegetarians in India. There has been a concern on quality of sea food, especially, salmon, mackerel and tuna, as well as oysters, shrimps and crabs. Consuming unsafe sea food can result in a range of health hazards including nausea, food poisoning and liver damage. Albert Williams of Chennai has come up with a novel, low-cost pressure canner for canning fish. Using this innovative fish canner freshly caught marine and river fish can be canned before they are offered for sale by small scale fish eateries in coastal areas. The innovative aspect of this device is that it uses unique healthcare technology to preserve the nutritive value of fish which are otherwise lost during canning. In addition to this, the device is priced at very competitive rates, much lower than branded pressure canners available in the market.

The canner is ideal for processing low acid fish which are currently being sold at small outlets in coastal areas without any preservation techniques. Unlike huge supermarkets, these small businessmen lack the resources to go in for adopting sophisticated technology to preserve fish. Albert’s fish canner comes handy for these businessmen. Freshly caught fish is manually cleaned and is loaded into the canner. The canner has the capacity to change heating levels according to altitude of the place where it used. This means that the canner is not restricted to be used only in coastal areas, but also can be used in any other area, including hilly areas.

There are a number of pints inside the canner in many sizes. The sizes of the pints can be altered according to need. There is a small pressure knob that acts like an indicator of pressure that will be used. Water is added to the canner, depending on the type of fish. The canner is layered with steam vents throughout its insides so that hot steam percolates from the sides and processes the fish that is loaded. A low weight rack facilitates smooth placement of the pints and allows for steam to flow freely.

The canner comes in three sizes – small, medium and big. Williams has secured orders not only from direct sellers but also from super markets as well as from individual customers who wish to do home canning of fish. Its portability and low cost makes it much sought-after even from out station sea food restaurants. The product is offered even on deferred payment, depending on numbers ordered. With innovative technology and health conscious initiative, Williams hopes to bag bog orders in 2017.

According to Times of India post back in Nov 2016, “Don fought and lost trademark battle in China” explains/ states Donald trump had filed trademark application “Trump” in China under class 35 to carry on business in building construction, repair and installation service on 7 December 2006 and seemed to have lost the race because a businessman, Dong Wei, had already applied for the Trump trademark on November 24 same year in same class losing the priority, the Supreme People’s Court Monitor had reported.

Trump challenged Dong’s mark carrying his last name but was rejected by the Trademark Bureau on November 30, 2009 on technical grounds and the fact that he had filed later than Dong. His application which included construction of hotel and real estate property did not fit into the requirement of class 37 of the trademark law. Besides, the word Trump is written in two different ways in Chinese. China follows first- come- first-to-file policy.

The stubborn Trump then moved the appellate authority on trademarks, and Beijing Intermediate People’s Court, which delivered a long judgment, now running into 52,000 page-views in the court’s website.

Trump finally challenged the judgment of the Beijing Intermediate court at the High People’s Court (similar to high courts in India), which upheld the verdict of the lower court. Thus Trump went to Trademark review & adjunction board, then to Beijing Intermediate people’s court and lastly Beijing High People’s court. Last decision was made on May 2015, the month before his candidacy.

Trump’s lawyers went to Trademark review and adjunction board again and this time it worked. On Sep 6 2016, the decision was cleared and the mark was published in China’s Trademark Gazette on November 13th 2016, less than 3 weeks after he won the presidential election.

There is a waiting period of three months for third party to object the grant but no one did and the mark was registered on 14th of February 2017. Each win creates value for Trump’s business empire, and ethics question about his administration. Question arises as to why after so many years of failure, Trump bags this trademark just after winning the presidency and is there any relation with trade.

If Trump is able to seize broad control of his brand in China, it could be bad news for Shenzhen Trump Industrial Co., which makes high-end Trump-branded toilets. Zhong Jianwei, one of the founders, said the company will defend its brand if challenged by the U.S. president.

The company applied for its Trump mark in 2002. The Chinese name brings together ideas of innovation and popularity and has nothing to do with President Trump, said Zhong Jiye, another founder. And in English, the “U” makes a nice toilet-seat shape for their logo.

Trump toilets for the home can do pregnancy tests, while models for public use have disposable seat covers for improved hygiene. The company says sales were up more than 50 percent last year and an international expansion is in the works — perhaps under a different brand, now that Trump is president.

People use Trump toilets some 100 million times a year, said Zhong Jiye.

Among them, he added, are customers at Zhongnanhai, the official residence of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

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The manual process of pepper threshing is laborious and painstaking. Pepper berries that abound in South India are regularly used as a spice, condiment and as a medicine to cure many gastric ailments and common cold, to mention a few. Disrupting the conventional and time consuming process of women, P.K. Ravi of Kerala, provides a cost-effective solution in his innovative pepper thresher. The unique process used, economy in power consumption, low damage quotient to pepper berries, ability to grade pepper berries and low price with credit facilities, are some of the reasons which make his innovation stand out amidst various existing farm machines used in crushing.
As a mechanic by profession, P.K. Ravi was determined to use his mechanical skills productively in his free time. He observed that a lot of pepper farms in his neighborhood did not possess adequate manpower to thresh pepper. This piqued his interest to mechanize the process where yield of powdered pepper can be multiplied. The idea of pepper thresher was born.
Ravi’s innovation uses a main frame upon which the feeding hopper and the threshing drum are rested. The hopper is made out an iron sheet and harvested pepper berries are fed into the machine. The machine is connected to an electrical motor and power is transmitted through V-belt and pulleys. The rotating drum threshes the berries at a rate of 300 to 600 Kgs per hour. Unlike conventional manual threshers, pepper skins are not damaged when they get separated from spikes.

P.K. Ravi with pepper thresher (image courtesy: http://www.pdslandtolab.org/core_activities.html)
When Ravi approached various sources with his idea, he was declined financial support. His efforts finally paid off when officials from the Spices Board of India visited his workshop and were convinced with the performance of the machine. They granted subsidy and Ravi started production. The Kerala Agricultural University has recommended the machine to its research station. Ravi filed a patent for his innovation. It was a major breakthrough when Idukki-based NGO Peeramedu Development Society documented the pepper thresher and recommended it for an award with National Innovations Foundation. “It was a triumphant moment when my Pepper Thresher secured the NIF award in2007”, says Ravi proudly.
Ravi has been working on offering the machine at affordable rates and favorable payment terms to farmers. The tangible savings in terms of electricity, labor and wastage has secured a lasting market for his product. The product comes in two models, using half HP motor. The product has been popularized with various women self-help groups. Ravi is confident that his product will go a long way into helping farmers maximizing their output and understand the impact of modernization in farming technology.

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The event was held on Sunday, 16th Oct. at ITC Maratha Hotel, Mumbai and attended by senior doctors from different speciality.

Rajeev Surana, our Founder & CEO of SCPL took the participants through basics of IPR and took examples of what can and cannot be patented. For e.g. medical and surgical procedures cannot be patented

There was a lot of interest and questions on patent, it’s cost, tenure, applicability as also trademark process.

Overall the event was a resounding success and full marks to Pfizer for initiating such a platform where Doctors get an opportunity to share their innovation and think about solving different problems.

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Do you know that only 1 out of 4 companies who apply for R&D tax benefits to DSIR actually get success?
Scinnovation (SCPL) has 100% track record and works with start ups, SMEs and large corporate with contract values ranging from Rs.2 lac to Rs.20 lac.

We are expanding and looking for a sales partner to work with us on commission basis for Bangalore and Pune markets to sell our R&D tax benefits service to companies of all sizes with focus on engineering and life sciences space.

The sales partner should be based in Bangalore or Pune and have experience of selling professional services, software or R&D equipment / lab set up targeted at CXO level in Finance / R&D / IP / Innovation / production department of manufacturing companies.

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Water bottles are an integral part of travel, meetings, seminars and discussions. Quench Promotions Pvt Ltd based in Pune introduces a path-breaking innovation in personalized promotional strategies. Quench provides businesses with a promotional medium which is in the possession of a potential / existing consumer for considerably longer amount of time as compared to traditional media. Consumers will look at the advertisement on the bottle till the water lasts or may be longer by re-using these bottles thus garnering a long impact time.
Quench uses the space on packaged drinking water as advertising space. They customize the label completely to a brand or business’ name. Quench offers five different bottle sizes, from 200ml to 20Litre jars and among this gambit 200ml is by far the most popular size. Quench’s concept is unique for the Indian advertising market as it aims to offer water which is the most precious resource on earth to make a brands’ image strong in the eyes of the consumers.

“Water is an extremely valuable commodity especially in the Indian culture, thus Quench us utilizes water to gain the attention of masses and to create a goodwill for businesses. We are living in the world of personalized products. Every business wants to have a certain identity to stand out from its competitors”, says a triumphant Sakina Wagh, Founder & Chief Quencher!
An MBA in Retail management & marketing and a plush job in a major corporate were not able to quench Sakina’s innovation thirst. During the interview, Sakina recalls, “After my short corporate stint, I joined our family lighting business in order to understand the nuances of handling business at the grassroots level.” Rich exposure in all verticals of the family retail business helped her satiate the inherent urge to establish an enterprise of her own. Co-Founder and Managing Quencher, Mokhtar Yaveri, schoolmate, has ably supported the venture. Mokhtar, a petroleum engineer, was extremely intrigued by the idea and helped budding the innovation to find firm grounds. Mokhtar explains “Look around you sometime and take note of all the people walking around with a bottle of water in their hand? Now imagine all those people holding water bottles with YOUR name, logo and message on it.” While client relations, branding, and business development are handled by Sakina, Mokhtar looks into the operations of Quench, including label quality, water quality and timely deliveries.
The Quench idea took sprout in the Dream:In initiative in Bangalore which provided them a good incubation platform, and a mentor Mr Francois Bertschy who has been playing a vital role in guiding and encouraging Quench with all his experience and expertise till date.
Being pioneers of this particular concept in India, Quench has the first mover advantage. However, competition comes from regular water brands in terms of price points. But the young team is confident that potential clients who understand the importance of Customization and Brand Individuality will always chose Quench over a regular brand of water.

Quench uses various social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook for promotion activities. It is also a part of BNI (Business Network International) to promote and generate leads for Quench. Their walking talking visiting card is a custom labeled bottled water which they offer to every client they meet. On scaling up, Sakina claims “At the moment we are able to cater to clients only in Maharashtra and Goa. We would like to expand slowly but surely, once we have a thorough quality check of our new vendors and trusted manpower to monitor the execution. As we, at Quench, offer a personalized service, the responsibility of the client’s brand image rests with us. Our long term plan is to have partnerships with Water Purifying Plants and Bottling Plants across different states to Quench India’s thirst!”